Finding Your Rays

Today, I am sending you rays of hope for this weekend.

Hope, that you may have that sort of weekend where you can pursue your own little patch of sunshine.... 

wherever it may be.....  

....and that wherever it leads you.... 

....you can tread softly....

....that it may bring you relaxation....

....and rest....

And if for some reason the sunshine disappears, I pray that you might find that other little spot, 

seemingly made just. for. you....

 ....that you may find your own little sort of retreat 

that will ultimately bring you face to face 

with peace. 

Happy Weekend!

R.I.P. Mr. Coffee

The following story describes, in part, why this blog has been neglected lately.

So there I am, putting away some dishes. Solomonkey wanders over, because he senses there is a breach in the force and recognizes it can mean only one thing: A lock is undone on one of the kitchen cabinets.

In Solostealth mode, he quickly and quietly opens the cabinet, pulls out the coffee maker and much to his surprise, a frying pan comes tumbling out alongside it, landing smack dab on top of the carafe.....

It went down like a well built sky-scraper, glass stacked on glass.

"SOLOMONSIEUR! Qu'avez-vous fait ? What have you done?!" I exclaim, (you know, without the proper French) but it's too late.

With his sheepish grin, he just sits there, happy with himself in this sudden stroke of luck: Look what I did THIS time, he smirks.....

Oh, what a sad, sad day it is for our coffee maker.

(Next time, we'll pay extra for the stainless steel version!)

Joyful Parenting through the "Woe Is Me" Moments

Parenting is joyful. It truly is.

Yet too often we parents play the "woe is me" card because of the tough situations we are experiencing. We all do it. (If you're sitting there saying, "Oh, not me. My kids are like rainbows and moonbeams," either you are lying to yourself, you aren't paying close enough attention, or you gave birth to angels who will one day just float back up to heaven amidst the sweet melodies they are playing on their little golden harps....at which point you will join the chorus of "Woe is me!") 

Perhaps you are the quiet type who doesn't verbalize it aloud. I imagine the thought or feeling has surfaced and you dutifully crammed it down deep inside your soul as to not let on that this parenting thing has some rough spots here and there. No matter. You'll still get this.

You see, for all the sweetness, and joy, and wonder that parenting brings, there are equal and opposite forces. (See, that Physics still comes in handy....) We are faced with more snot and puke and blood than we thought imaginable (ok, maybe that blood part doesn't apply to everyone) and we have to deal with it through half awake brain fog that only lifts ever so slightly once the kids get to school. 

But what no one really tells you is that once you have kids, you can't actually go to the bathroom by yourself.....for like the next 18 years. 

We have a fairly big house: 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, two offices, three levels.....yadda yadda. And if I could just have a dime for every time 6 of the 7 of us have ended up in the tiniest of bathrooms ALL AT THE SAME TIME, I think Kurt could retire. Really. It is amazing. 

And when I get to the "Woe is me" point and lock them all out, this is what I come back to:

Exhibit A: Small Facial Laceration

Fortunately, it wasn't that bad; just a tiny laceration, almost perfectly lined up in the middle of the eyebrow. I figured Urgent Care would just glue it back together so after cleaning it up and applying a little antibiotic cream, I just glued that baby shut with that random bottle of skin glue I bought a few years back. Ta-da! (Look, Mom! No ER!)

It didn't really affect him actually. In no time at all he was dumping crayons and acting all Solly-Wally-Doodle-All-The-Day!

Exhibit B: Dumping the Crayons

Exhibit C: Acting Innocent

And then there is the fact that we parents have to pay homage to the bathroom gods so that maybe we can  get in the quickest of showers each day. 

I was fortunate enough to have found favor with the great shower lord when Solomonster was sleeping yesterday and so I snuck in to get washed up after a long treadmill run. What I failed to underestimate however was the creativity which Liam brings to his mischievousness. 

I told him I was going to take a shower and he could come up if he needed me. He was playing quietly and said, "Ok, Mom!"

Ahhhh, so refreshing. So relaxing. So.....(BEEP BEEP BEEP) ACK! Good Feeling Gone! The alarm was telling me Liam had left the building! (I swear, just yesterday he could not even turn the lock, much less open that door!)

I jumped out, yelling at Liam to close the door. He came skipping upstairs, all smiles. After getting myself pulled together we went back down and I noticed the bathroom door was ajar so I went in to turn the light off when I discovered this:

Hee hee....It was like Guantanamo Bay for Honey Grahams. I imagine he was threatening to pour water on them until they told him where they were hiding the Nutella. (At which point he most likely planned to douse them in Nutella and eat them anyway.....)

Ahhh, you see? Rainbows and Moonbeams! Parenting is joyful. (Sometimes you just have to hold your breath and wade through some unidentified green stuff to get there!)

Have a spectacular day!

Honest Chickens

There is a blogger I read sometimes whose intent is to embrace a fully honest, mindful and self-sufficient lifestyle for herself and her family. This includes keeping their own chickens for eggs and meat. One of her last posts was about the day they slaughtered their first chicken after "chickening" out for six weeks past the normal market weight. When asked how it tasted she replied: "Honest."



We were making pancakes the morning of Liam's Birthday Party. Lily was helping (which meant she was holding the bag of chocolate chips in hopes I would put some in at the end).

"Mom, if I fill up my sticker chart in school I can pick out a prize from the box to give to Liam for his birthday," Lily told me.

"That sounds good. How many stickers do you need?" I asked.

"About six, I think," she said.

"Have other kids already gotten to take a prize from the box this year?" I asked, curiously.

"Yeah, my friend Haley did, and a lot of others," she said, looking a little less excited.

"Well, why haven't you?" I asked.

"Well, Mo-om, that would mean I have to be good," she said.

Now THAT'S what I call an honest chicken. (But we have no plans to eat her just yet.)

Beating a Dead Horse (AKA: Yippee! Someone Left the Lock Open!)

Seriously, I don't mean to belabor the point but here is a short photo and video segment explaining why I can't turn my back for even a minute.....

"Gee Mom, it's so much more fun to Snap! Crackle! and Pop! WITHOUT the bowl and milk!"

Ever notice how it is never the day BEFORE the floors are mopped that kids manage to dump the entire box of cereal out? 

Have a lovely week! 

In the Wake of Solomon

In case you hadn't gotten the memo, it is currently Solomonsoon season in our household. The winds have shifted, dramatically, and around every corner, destruction awaits. While I can't show you proof of the day I heard the shattering glass in the kitchen only to find Solomon happily sitting IN THE MIDDLE OF IT (hey, even I have limits on how much picture taking can happen with danger looming), I can share some of his other less than favorable recent activities.

It was all fun and cleaning until he came walking out with the plunger.....which was slightly wet and I can only imagine how it got that way, ick..... 

Then there was the tape....

....that he used as a yo-yo.....

Then, there was the diaper cabinet demolition.....look, ten minutes of fun with the baby-wipes.....not sure why he had to pull the pillows off the couch too but hey whatever.....

He's now getting stronger than the rubber bands......best part is, most of the food was already on the floor far before the tray made it there, like usual and as soon as I start sweeping it up, he comes waddling back to eat from the pile (yes, I do stop him....usually.)

Oh look, what's this picture doing here of my neat and tidy music shelf? Oh wait, where are all the labels on the music organizers? Hmmm......

Oh, right, he pulled them all out, ate some of them, spit others out, and yes, that is the severed end of some earplugs he found in the piano bench.....

And finally, you may recall his love of the dishwasher rack....well, apparently he has moved on to better things:

Before pulling him on out I asked him why he didn't just play with the bottom rack like he used to....he told me that was SO yesterday. Duh. 

And yes dear reader, I realize he is likely to break the dishwasher by crawling on the door and pulling on the, um, whatever that thingamajig is but this is so much cleaner than where I found him only moments earlier (pulling the toilet paper off the roll, dousing it with toilet water AND EATING IT!) that I think I'll take my chances. (You know the other kids don't always flush, right? BLECH!)

Can't imagine how this might end.....

Hey look Mom,  I'm dancing.....on a stool.....

.....on only one leg!

There he is in a quiet moment.....just looking for trouble.....(give him that mirror will ya!)

I'm Thinking of An Animal

The following is our first real attempt at keeping the kids focused on a verbal game, in order to keep them quiet, so that we refrain from duct taping their mouths shut. It went something like this:

Me: Ok, I'm thinking of an animal.
Lily: Is it a bunny?
Me: What? No! Just wait, Lily. We'll go in age order. Aidan you're first.
Aidan: Is it a reptile?
Me: No. Madeline, your turn.
Madeline: Is it a bunny?
Me: No.
Kurt: Girls, you need to ask categorical questions first; questions about size and where it lives and....
Lily: How big is it?
Me: It has to be a yes or no question.
Lily: Is it a fish?
Me: No.
Liam: Does it live in a tree? Is it an EEEEEGUANA?
Me: No and no.
Aidan: Does it live on land?
Me: Hmmm, mostly.
Aidan: Oh, I know, is it a, a.....
Lily: Is it a Polar Bear?
Me: It's not your turn, Lily.
Madeline: Is it a Polar Bear?
Me: No.
Lily: Is it a Honey Bee?
Me: No.
Liam: Is it an EEEguana?
Me: Uh, no.
Aidan: Does it have fur?
Me: Yes.
Madeline: Is it a Penguin?
Me: Madeline, penguins don't have fur.
Madeline: Yes, they do.
Me: No, they are birds, they don't.
Madeline: But Penguins are mostly on land and sometimes in the water.
Aidan: Oh I KNOW! Is it....
Kurt and Me: Wait your turn!
Lily: (laughing) Is it a dog?
Me: No.
Liam: Is it an Iguana?
Me: Still no.
Aidan: IS IT A TURTLE?!!!
Me: No. Good idea though.
Aidan: Ooooh man! Oh, wait, I know, it's from that movie, you know, the one I read all the books for....(he runs out of the room then back again) The Lion, Witch and The Wardrobe.
Madeline: Is it a lion?
Me: No.
Lily: (Laughing again) Is it a wardrobe?
Liam: Is it an Iguana?
Me: No and no.
Aidan: Is it a BEAVER!?
Me: Yes! Good Job, Aidan!

This went on a few rounds, guessing at fruit and bugs and planets before Liam wanted his turn.

Liam: I have an animal.
Madeline: Is it an Iguana?
Liam: (With fists excitedly waving up and down into the air like that old guy who loved Raymond on Everyone Loves Raymond) YYYYYEEEES! GOOOOOD JOB! YAAAAY! You GOT IT!

You know, because THAT was a tough one. Gotta love him!

Have a great day!